Civil War
Gun & Rose Lyrics

Look at your young men fighting
Take a close look at the young men in wars fighting.

Look at your women crying
Observe the women crying for their dying loved ones.

Look at your young men dying The way they've always done before
The young men are dying the same way as they have in the past.

Look at the hate we're breeding Look at the fear we're feeding Look at the lives we're leading The way we've always done before
Society is spreading hate, fear, and leading lives in the same old way.

My hands are tied The billions shift from side to side And the wars go on with brainwashed pride For the love of God and our human rights And all these things are swept aside By bloody hands time can't deny And are washed away by your genocide And history hides the lies of our civil wars
Despite the massive amount of money involved in wars and the shifting of power, wars continue with brainwashed people fighting for God and human rights. Wars are responsible for genocide and atrocities that are hidden in history.

D'you wear a black armband When they shot the man Who said peace could last forever And in my first memories They shot Kennedy I went numb when I learned to see So I never fell for Vietnam We got the wall of D.C. to remind us all That you can't trust freedom When it's not in your hands When everybody's fightin' For their promised land
The black armband worn when Martin Luther King Jr. was shot down because of his beliefs in lasting peace. JFK's assassination left a painful memory, followed by a disbelief and numbness towards the Vietnam War. But the wall in DC can remind people that freedom can't be trusted when it’s not under your control as people fight for their land.

And I don't need your civil war It feeds the rich while it buries the poor Your power hungry sellin' soldiers In a human grocery store Ain't that fresh I don't need your civil war Ow, oh no, no, no, no, no
Civil wars only serve the rich, while the poor suffer, with governments selling soldiers like products. This only ends up in death and no fresh ideas for the problem's root cause.

Look at the shoes you're filling Look at the blood we're spilling Look at the world we're killing The way we've always done before Look in the doubt we've wallowed Look at the leaders we've followed Look at the lies we've swallowed And I don't want to hear no more
The song highlights the bloody legacy that comes with old shoes, spilled blood, and destroyed worlds. Society has been exposed to false hope, which feeds on lies, doubt, and the leaders people follow.

My hands are tied For all I've seen has changed my mind But still the wars go on as the years go by With no love of God or human rights 'Cause all these dreams are swept aside By bloody hands of the hypnotized Who carry the cross of homicide And history bears the scars of our civil wars
Despite seeing the aftermath of wars, conflicts still exist with no human rights and love of God. People's hopes and dreams are taken away from them by the power-hungry hypnotists who carry out the violent acts, and history bears the scars of previous civil wars.

I don't need your civil war No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no I don't need your civil war I don't need your civil war Your power hungry sellin' soldiers In a human grocery store Ain't that fresh I don't need your civil war No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, oh no
The chorus of the song highlights the aversion of the artist to civil war as it only serves a small group of power-hungry individuals who are selling soldiers for their cause by painting them in the wrong light. Such a cycle is a harmful attempt to solve a problem.

I don't need one more war No, no, no, no uh-oh-uh, no uh-oh, uh no Whaz so civil 'bout war anyway?
Another chorus is a call for the end of wars, and the killer closing statement questions the idea of what is truly civil about war.